Veblen's Anti-Anti-Feminism

Abstract

It was not Thorstein Veblen's way to make public statements of belief. Circuitous, cumbersome, barbed, Veblen's prose evades rather declares. Many readers have found his values difficult to pin down; debates continue over such critical issues as the extent of his agreement with Marx and whether Veblen's works foretell change or more of the same. Rick Tilman sums up decades of scholarship by noting that "no consensus now exists on the value or even the meaning of Veblen's work" (1992, 13). The lack of consensus has only been aggravated by the general impression that Veblen's earliest and most famous book, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), says everything he has to say. The preoccupation of many readers with this single text has obscured a number of his reiterated ideas and rhetorical strategies. One of Veblen's most consistent strategies throughout his writings, at least as consistent as his often-noted satirical pose, is the binary opposition. Although he disparages invidious comparisons made by others, it is within these binary oppositions that Veblen inscribes his own values. Indeed, determining his values becomes almost monotonously simple once one know how to read the contrasting terms. Veblen values everything that he claims his culture despises. The following list is partial: